


Clarity

by Fairfaxleasee



Series: Fenris/Cassia [18]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Mild Blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 19:22:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29355654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fairfaxleasee/pseuds/Fairfaxleasee
Summary: Cassia Hawke and Fenris discuss the implications of what the god she'd been annoying reveals about her.
Relationships: Female Hawke & Solas (Dragon Age), Fenris/Female Hawke
Series: Fenris/Cassia [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2141970
Kudos: 7





	Clarity

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr at fairfaxleasee.tumblr.com (asks and anon asks open)
> 
> Thanks to @blondetexan and @xqueen0fhellx for betaing

“...so  _ that’s _ how you do it,  _ ara vherlin _ . It looks like I’ll have to reassess my opinion of you after all.”

The strange mage narrowed his eyes at Cassia Hawke. Strange mage; ancient elf; immortal trickster - Fen’Harel, the Dread Wolf. And he was looking directly at Cass and  _ finally _ seeing her. She really wished he’d go back to underestimating her, as annoying as his condescending tone and whatever-that-thing he kept calling her were, they at least allowed her the freedom to flit through his blind spots the way she liked to. He was never going to turn a blind eye to her again.

For the second time in as many minutes, the infinite looping web of possibilities, contingencies, causes, effects, choices, and questions that usually cluttered her mind had managed to align itself correctly and she could see the inevitable result; a core truth.

The web had its uses, she’d long since learned how to find the more likely, more rational, safer pathways and they were usually right enough to serve her well and keep her a step or two ahead of whoever it was she was trying to outmaneuver at the time - it was probably why she was still breathing despite the fact that just about every country and special interest group in Thedas had an assassination contract out for her or an exorbitant bounty on her head. She couldn’t always use it though; there were times when she was too close or too tired or too distracted or there was too much noise in the way for the web to do her any good, but the clairity was absolute. Sometimes, like now and when she had killed Anders after his terrorist attack (she really wished she had seen that one coming  _ before _ it happened, but she couldn’t find the clarity, it found her when it felt like it), there was only one path, some kind of string that was pulling her and everyone and every _ thing _ towards a particular point, and there was no stopping it anymore; no matter how much she might want to at times it came too late like when Bartend had locked them in the Deep Roads. Other times, like before the signal fire went up at Ostagar, only to be ignored, or during her duel with the Arashok in the Viscount’s Keep (although why the man thought that putting his head down and running  _ directly fucking at her _ was a good idea for an attack she still didn’t know, didn’t take any actual talent to know to dodge, although it might have required her particular talent to know just where to hold the poisoned butterfly knife she’d used to kill him where his momentum would ensure it would cut deep enough for a full dose without hitting something annoying, like armor or bone) there was a choice she could make to nudge things down a particular path, at which point the inevitable would take over.

That was what had happened to provoke his disbelieving comment; she’d  _ seen _ him kill Fenris with the strange spell before her husband could bring his broadsword down on the man’s neck, so she’d pulled him away from the lethal blow, rather than retreating as she was supposed to have done.

She was still gripping Fenris’ forearm tightly enough that his armor was cutting into her palm as she walked them away from the irate god.

“And  _ again _ ,” the man stalked towards them. “You are  _ far _ more talented than you have any right to be,  _ ara vherlin _ . And I admit, that imitation wolf of yours can make quite a nuisance of himself.”

She felt Fenris try to move towards the man so she pulled on his arm to get his attention. He turned towards her, although the rage even she could see twisting his features suggested his attention was still on the mage that was closing on them. She shook her head and whispered, “Run.”

“What?” Fenris stared at her.

“Fenris,  _ run _ .” She pulled on his arm as she began the motion herself. She knew that bolting for the Eluvian and retreating to the Winter Palace wasn’t a  _ great _ plan, particularly given that they were dealing with a mage, but he’d been waiting for them not far from it, and Cass had been slowly working her way back to it during the verbal bar-brawl she’d been engaging the man in before he’d actually looked at her. She had no idea what was going on, but it was clear that this person understood something about her that she was completely unaware of, and she didn’t like that one scintilla. Besides, bolting was the best plan she could see within the web that had come back.

“You can’t hide,  _ ara vherlin _ ,” she heard the man call after them. “That magic of yours is quite distinctive. It was rare even at the height of Elvhenan. And it  _ should be _ unheard of-”

As soon as she was through the Eluvian she yanked the door to the small room (or possibly large closet considering where they were) open. She and Fenris weren’t supposed to be anywhere near the Winter Palace, and Cullen probably wouldn’t be happy about someone possibly seeing the strange mirror, but considering the man on the other side had abandoned the Inquisition two years ago, she was confident he wouldn’t follow them right into the bulk of its forces when he might be spotted.

She heard Fenris come up behind her and stiffened. She had no idea what the man had been talking about with his parting words, but she knew how Fenris felt about magic and mages. She felt Fenris touch her shoulder and she let out something between a sob and a sigh.

“Cass…” He was trying to turn her towards him. She obliged, but couldn’t look at him. He took her bleeding hand and wrapped it in the scrap of red cloth he’d stolen from her years ago. “I don’t know what he was talking about,” Fenris turned to glare at the mirror, “But we can figure it out.” He tied the cloth and ran a hand through her hair to try to coax her eyes to his.

She could feel her tears run as she raised her gaze to meet his. She loved the earthy green of his eyes. “But… what he  _ said _ .”

He grabbed her shoulders and pushed her against the nearest wall. He brought his mouth close to hers and at her desperate whimper closed his lips over hers. She reached up to grip the hand that wasn’t bandaged around his ear and slowly run her fingers over it. He deepened the kiss and found her tongue as he pushed his whole body into hers and pinned her to the wall.

She usually felt safe when he covered her and he was all she could sense anymore, but the words ‘that magic of yours,’ kept ricocheting and reverberating in her head and she couldn’t stop the tears. She hadn’t thought that the things she could see could be some sort of magic. Magic was what her father and sister had been able to do; fireballs, lightning, healing - calling the Fade into the waking world. She’d never been able to do anything like  _ that _ . And none of the mages she’d known had been able to do what she could; more of them would probably be alive if they’d have been able to see her coming the way she could see them. Besides, mages may have been born that way, but it took years for their powers to develop. The web and the clarity had always been there for her; although it had taken her years to be able to make any sense of them. They were so ingrained in her that she hadn’t even realized what she could do was at all strange until, after much more time pulling at the threads of the web and turning it to various angles than she’d thought she’d been at it, Fenris had asked her where she would go when her eyes ‘got like that.’ She hadn’t had an answer then; she didn’t have an answer now. She’d been a bit disheartened to learn that there was  _ yet another _ way she wasn’t like anybody else, that she had another thing about herself she’d never be able to explain to the people who couldn’t see, couldn’t experience, couldn’t begin to comprehend it. But the fact that she was somehow strange wasn’t strange at all; she was strange in ways that had nothing to do with the web and the clarity. And none of those were magic.

But now that the man had said it - there were new threads in the web and it was aligning itself again. She had a vague impression of letting out a muted wail as she waited for the clarity that could take everything, the only thing, away from her.

Fenris broke the kiss and pressed his forehead to hers as he took her face in his hands and used his thumbs to wipe away the tears that were still falling. “I heard what he said, Cass. Even if he’s right - it doesn’t matter. It doesn't change anything. I don’t  _ care _ . I’m not going anywhere; I will be with you to help you. And protect you.  _ Because I love you _ .”

“So… even if I-” she couldn’t bring herself to articulate the possibility,  _ probability _ \- who was she even trying to kid; she’d seen the truth, even if she didn’t understand why or how or what it meant. She just couldn’t form the words ‘I’m a mage.’ Her whole body shook with the wounded sob that came out when she tried. Fenris slid one of his hands behind her head and took a fistful of her auburn hair so he could keep her close as he stepped back to bring his other hand around her back to press her fully to him without support from the wall.

“Even if, Cass.”

“You still promise you won’t leave?” She could barely whisper what was still her greatest fear.

“Never again, Cassia. Never again.”

She gripped the back of his neck with one hand and one of his shoulder blades with the other and leaned into the only thing that she’d ever found any comfort in: his embrace.


End file.
